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A new study – published in Nursing Research – has found that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted patient safety indicators in U.S. hospitals. The study, from Penn Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR), examined data from the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators to assess trends in nursing-sensitive quality indicators from 2019 to 2022. The prevention of these very distressing, uncomfortable conditions is considered to be under the nurse’s purview and directly influenced by nursing care.

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The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) has been awarded a $3.2 million, 5-year grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) to scale out an evidence-based secure firearm storage intervention at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Firearms are now the leading cause of death for U.S. children and teens, driving the largest spike in children’s mortality in more than 50 years. The study aims to keep children safer from firearm injury and mortality by promoting secure firearm storage.

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A new study, conducted by a group of researchers led by Penn Nursing and Perelman School of Medicine and funded by the Centers for Disease Control, found a strong association between handheld cellphone use and risky driving behaviors among newly licensed teen drivers. The study, published online first in JAMA Open, used a smartphone telematics application to track the driving habits of hundreds of teens and identify potential safety risks.

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J. Margo Brooks Carthon, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Tyson Family Endowed Term Chair for Gerontological Research; Professor of Nursing in the Department of Family and Community Health; and Associate Director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, has been appointed the new Director of the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing (Bates Center), the preeminent history of nursing research center and archive.

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The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) has been awarded a $3.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop and evaluate a new intervention designed to improve communication between parents and their gay or bisexual adolescent sons.

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A new Penn Nursing Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) study – published in INQUIRY – has found a strong association between the quality of the nurse work environment and COVID-19 mortality rates among socially vulnerable Medicare beneficiaries. The study examined data from 238 acute care hospitals across New York and Illinois.

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A groundbreaking article published in the latest issue of Nursing Outlook proposes a significant shift in how nursing care is measured within acute and critical care settings. This "Blueprint for Action" seeks to revolutionize current methods by recognizing the full scope of a nurse's work and its profound impact on patient outcomes.

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Henrietta Villaescusa, RN, FAAN, a pioneering Hispanic nurse, dedicated her career to advancing health equity for Latino communities. Through her tireless efforts in government, healthcare, and community activism, Villaescusa left an enduring legacy that continues to inspire nurses and policymakers today. A new article – just published in Nursing Outlook – written by Penn Nursing Dean Antonia Villarruel, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Professor of Nursing Julie Fairman, PhD, RN, FAAN, examines Villaescusa’s career and the factors influencing her impact across government, health, and nursing sectors.

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A research team – co-led by Penn Nursing – has made a significant breakthrough in understanding the complex neural circuitry underlying reward and addiction by identifying 34 distinct subtypes of medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a key brain region involved in pleasure and motivation. The findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports by Nature, offer insights into the diversity of these neurons and their potential roles in substance use disorders.

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Penn Nursing is excited to announce the launch of a new online Nursing and Healthcare Leadership Master’s (MSN) program beginning in the summer of 2025. This innovative 10 CU program, which combines and enhances the curriculum of the Nursing and Healthcare Administration (NADM) and Health Leadership (HLMP) Master’s programs, will provide students with a comprehensive and dynamic learning experience that prepares graduates for leadership roles in the ever-changing healthcare environment.

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In a recently published opinion piece in BMJ Open, “Rhetoric of Research: A Call for Renaming the Clinical Research Partnership,” authors from Penn Nursing and Georgetown University School of Nursing, present a compelling argument for rethinking the language used to describe participants in clinical research.

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Penn Nursing is proud to announce that Penn Nursing Dean Antonia M. Villarruel was recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of the 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives for 2024. The profiles of all the honorees are featured in the June 10, 2024, issue of MH magazine.

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A new study published in International Journal of Nursing Studies showed that individuals with Covid-19 were more likely to die in hospitals that were chronically understaffed before the pandemic. This study is one of the first to document the continuing public health dangers of permitting so many U.S. hospitals to ration nursing care by understaffing nursing services.

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A new study published in Medical Care today showed that substituting registered nurses (RN) with lower-wage staff (e.g. licensed practical nurses, unlicensed assistive personnel) in hospital care is linked with more deaths, readmissions, longer hospital stays, poorer patient satisfaction, and higher costs of care.

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New research from Penn Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) – recently published online in the journal Research in Nursing & Health – has successfully validated a new, streamlined version of the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI), originally authored in 2002 by Eileen T. Lake, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor of Nursing, the Edith Clemmer Steinbright Professor in Gerontology, and Associate Director of CHOPR, who is also lead author on this publication.

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Penn Nursing is proud to launch a groundbreaking new online course – Educating Nurses in Psychedelic Assisted Therapy – via Open Canvas.

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A new study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) – published in JAMA Network Open today – showed that, aside from retirements, poor working conditions are the leading reasons nurses leave healthcare employment.

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Stephanie Ferguson, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Director of the Harvard Global Nursing Leadership Program and Professor of the Practice of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, will serve as the 2024 Penn Nursing commencement speaker.

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PHILADELPHIA (March 14, 2024) – Catherine C. McDonald, PhD, RN, FAAN, has been appointed Chair of Penn Nursing’s Department of Family and Community Health effective July 1, 2024. Currently, she is the Vice-Chair of the Department and the Dr. Hildegarde Reynolds Endowed Term Chair of Primary Care Nursing.

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Penn Community Collaboratory for Co-Creation (Penn4C), an initiative led jointly by the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) and the School of Engineering and Applied Science (Penn Engineering), has awarded funding to five new research projects that address social justice through designing and implementing solutions to improve health, well-being, and safety. In addition to the involvement of Penn faculty and students, the projects are required to have active and equitable representation of the community in which the project will be completed.